The City of Nelson has completed another cleanup of the Government Road encampment, while also ensuring no one can return to the location.
City crews have dismantled the camp and covered the site with rocks, making it impossible to camp there in the future.
Nelson's city manager Kevin Cormack told the Nelson Star in an email that the Government Road camp was "decommissioned for camping" for health and safety reasons on Aug. 29.
"One of the campers dislodged a boulder from the bank and was seriously injured," he said. "We also found that a four-foot deep latrine was dug, and finally there was an excessive amount of garbage that also made the place unhealthy."
He said street outreach workers had worked with two residents of the camp and helped them return to their home in the Slocan Valley.
In August the city passed a bylaw prohibiting camping in 13 specific parks and other public areas, but the site at Government Road was not included.
Making the Government Road site impossible to camp on resembles an action taken in 2023 when the city filled a sheltered area with concrete near the Scout Hall on Cedar Street. The location had been used by unhoused campers.
Nelson Street Outreach worker Jeremy Kelly told the Nelson Star that the Government Road camp was unoccupied, having been abandoned in early August. He said there are several other places around town where unhoused people are currently camping that are not on the city's list of prohibited locations.
"There's a few other sanctioned campsites that are easier to access and easier for scheduled garbage pickup," he said, "and just smaller footprints, so it's easier to keep them clean."
A Charter issue
A 2015 B.C. Supreme Court decision, upheld later by the B.C. Court of Appeal, ruled that overnight shelter on public land is a constitutional right under Section 7 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, if a city does not offer other shelter options. Section 7 of the Charter protects the life, liberty, and security of a person.
Nelson offers a limited temporary shelter option at Stepping Stones run by Nelson CARES.
Since the Supreme Court decision, many municipalities in the province have disallowed camping in some areas but allowed it in others, in partial compliance with the court decision. The City of Nelson did this in August by passing a bylaw that laid out a list of 13 parks and other public locations where camping is not allowed. By implication, any public land not on the list is open to campers.
University of British Columbia law professor Margot Young says such partial compliance with the Charter has not yet been tested in court. But at a minimum, in her opinion, the public places where overnight camping are allowed should be reasonably numerous and accessible.
Responding later to the news of the decommissioning of the Government Road camp, Young noted that city council approved its list of 13 disallowed camping areas by a council vote. Then it added a 14th – Government Road, by making it unsuitable for camping – without a vote.
This could be seen as end-run around both the bylaw and the Charter, she said, by "circumventing and massaging" a constitutional right that should supersede all other rights.
Cormack responded by stating that there are many places people can camp in and around Nelson.
"The closure of these inappropriate sites does not change that," he said. "Council is focused on securing appropriate housing, while respecting the rights of those unhoused to camp. Between the Outreach Team, other social sector agencies, and bylaw, we work closely with folks to support them as much as possible and to help them get the proper support. We have not had any situations where someone was not able to shelter."
